Strobilomyia infrequens new to Scotland from Cullaloe Hills, 1st April

The first of the genus in Scotland, this is a fly, and a family, which mines conifer cones. S.infrequens mines Larch in particular, but doesn't appear to be fussy about which Larch. In this case I think it was hybrid, though that needs to be checked. It is noted as a "late" Strobiloyia, in the sense that the female has a long ovipositor, with which she places eggs between cone scales. The "early" species place an egg at the base of a cone. It will be interesting to see if affected cones can be found shortly. Larches are pretty ubiquitous in the UK, so it'll also be interesting if other Larchy places have Strobilomyia species.